swimming

i don't have pictures of my crazy kids in the pool, because i can't bear the thought of my camera getting wet. if you had seen rachel in water, you would understand. i have to put a swim diaper on her, then her bathing suit (i got her a super cute new one), then immediately the arm floaties. i made the mistake of opening the gate without putting the floaties on once, and she jumped right in the water, thinking she had them on. i won't do that again. this crazy girl jumps straight in the water, head goes under, and she bobs back up. no crying or spluttering. just a happy, kicking, swimming girl. she will jump off the diving board, jump off the side into someone's arms, be dragged around, and sometimes under by an enthusiastic sister, play catch with a ball, climb into her "lotie" as she calls it. she loves the water. everything having to do with the water. when she gets cold, she will lay on the deck on her tummy for a while, then get back in the water. she is the funniest little thing. and the way she splashes and plays, i can't bring my camera out there!!

then there's caleb. he started the swimming season the same way he ended last year, wearing a life jacket, happily swimming and jumping off the side, going underwater. well, a couple weeks ago, nathan thought i was torturing him, but i was in fact teaching him to swim. and it worked. after a few days of blood curdling screaming "I CAN'T DO IT!!!!", he actually DID IT!!! he is now a pro, swimming all over the pool. he doesn't have a stroke down yet, but i am happy he is swimming without a flotation device.

colby and rebekah joined the local swim team, and are working hard on their strokes every day. they are doing better every day at practice, and i drill them at home too. all the kiddos are doing really well this year. yay for swimming!!

gullible

today i learned (well, relearned really) that i am extremely gullible. i will fall for any sob story, so bring them on. a few years ago, i had listed an organ for sale, the kind you play, not the body parts. anyway, i had a person contact me with one of those, i'll send you a check and you wire me the money deals. this was before it was all over the place as a do not do thing. i had never heard of it before, and it seemed like a good deal. so, the check came, i went and deposited it, then wired the money. i know what you are thinking, wow, what an idiot. now, before you judge me too harshly, just know that i am not a scam artist, and don't think i know anyone else who is. so why would anyone do this to me? it had never happened to me. apparently, there's a first time for everything. i don't remember exact details, but i also bought a dog the same way. wire the money, no dog. in the end, i was taken for something like 6 grand. you would think i had learned my lesson, right? WRONG!!

we have our excursion listed on craigslist, and several people have expressed interest in it, only to quit calling, not show up when they are supposed to, or other such things. last night i got an email from a guy that says he is extremely interested, but needs us to do owner financing. this puts up little red flags. he says he has little kids, and needs a car for them. flags down. aw, a guy with kids can't be bad, right? he says he'll give us a thousand down, and a thousand every month for the next 7 month, which is a grand more than asking price. flags up again. says he has a good paying job, and can show us pay stubs. oh, ok. flags down. he'll get it insured with us as leinholders. he'll have a notorized contract drawn up. all these things sound good to me. but then, my good old father in law says, but what if he just takes the car, and you never hear from him again? all you have is a thousand dollars. dang, i've been taken in again.

now, this could be a legitimate guy, with a legitimate need that we could help. or, he could be a total scam artist with no job, no kids, and is just looking for gullible suckers like me. there is no way to tell, so sadly, with the world in the sad shape it is in, i cannot take the chance. i am so upset tonight. upset that i fall for these things so easily, that i trust that there is a shred of decency left in humanity. upset that i have to feel this way. that you can't just follow the dang golden rule. treat others the way you would want to be treated, dangit!!!! but most of all, i am upset that i almost fell for this kind of thing......again. will i ever learn???

keys

today i ran to the store for just a few things. like we all say, right? :) well, since we are limited on funds, it really had to be just a few things! rachel and i wandered all around, trying on shoes, looking at swimsuits, and basically coveting things i can't have!

well, rachel got restless, and it was either let her tear apart my purse and wallet, or give her the keys. i opted for the keys. i have dealt with the exploded purse, not fun. i have also had her throw my keys on the floor when i wasn't paying attention. that isn't fun either. so i was paying super close attention to make sure it didn't happen again, but then got sidetracked by something else cool.... we checked out, and went to the car. i unloaded rachel and the groceries, and looked for my keys...... then i remembered that rachel had them in the cart! she is notorious for chucking stuff over the side, so i am constantly putting things back in. if she threw them when i wasn't looking, oh crap!! i had ice cream melting!! and impatient kids at home waiting for it!! i looked through my purse 3 times frantically, praying they would magically appear. that she had stuck them in a random place. but no, they weren't there. on a whim, i picked up the ice cream to see how melted it was..... and lo and behold, the keys were there!!! somehow, they had gotten into the bag, under the ice cream! whether rachel had put them there, or the bagger had accidentally picked them up, i will never know, but i have never been so grateful to see keys in all of my life!!! after last week, i am starting to think i need to staple them to my clothes!!

holy moly

i knew it, when i woke up, i had the feeling i should have just gotten back in bed. things went from bad to worse all day long yesterday. this post is a little bit of a whiny- woe is me kind of deal, so if you aren't in the mood to read that, move along now!! :)

the day started out ok, i spent an hour or so on the computer looking for swimsuits that i and my darling nathan would like. you know, with straps, not a halter, tankini top long enough to stretch well over the bottoms, and a skirt. i found a few i liked, and had them on the computer for nathan to see later. the dishes were piled in the sink, but i kept saying i would get to them later. i had places to go, but figured i had time to get ready to go. not so. heather came in with the crew, and i was still in my pjs with nothing done!! i raced to get ready, and ran out the door. hehe

i get where i was going, lock the car, throw the keys in my purse, at the last second think to myself, it's too bulky, i don't want to lug it around, and THROW IT ON THE SEAT!!!! yup, locked the keys in the car. i went inside and did my thing, but had to wait almost 45 min for nathan to finish work, go home and get the key, and come and rescue me. thank goodness for knights in shining armor. on the plus side, i did get to wait in an air conditioned building and eat a fresh peach. that was yummy.

i get home, put away all my purchases, and show nathan my swimsuit finds. he says, they're ok, but the skirts make you look frumpy. back to square one. oh well. i have lost some weight, so we'll see.....

then, we do lunch, then i go to the hospital to sit with dear sandy while john is at work. i race there, but get all turned around in the crazy construction and end up calling heather for help. i finally get to sandy's room, and barely give her a hug, when they come in and get her for radiation treatment. i didn't realize what that entailed, and i wasn't invited along, so i just sat down to read my book. it wasn't long before they were back, and i talked with her a little, before she was given more much needed meds that helped her relax and she drifted in and out for the next couple hours. at one point, the nurse gave her the meds in the iv, and sandy winced in pain. the nurse looked at the iv site, and decided to try to a better site on the other arm. now, it took several people several painful tries to get the one they had, and it was way up on the upper arm. she was pretty nervous it was going to be like before, but relented to another try. the nurse kept saying they called her the "sharpshooter" because she gets the first try, every time. so sandy looked at me, closed her eyes, and was ready. before we even prepared ourselves, she was done! she really was the sharpshooter!! thank goodness!! i don't think sandy was geared up for another torture session. thankfully, she was able to rest after that, and i got a good portion of my book read. sadly, when heather was there, it was not so peaceful.

but i went home, and got the kids ready for scouts. we are the webelos leaders. our kids go to the scoutmasters house during meetings, and they love it. nathan stayed home with the sleeping girls, and i took the other 6 kids to her house. then i picked up the boys and got to the church. i realized i didn't have the keys to get in!! nathan has them on his ring! aaaahhh!!! so i rushed back to her house to get her keys, before the other boys and our guest speaker got there. the meeting went well, and we got the kids home.but because rachel had slept for so long, she wasn't ready for bed for a long time. finally at 1030, i gave up, and locked her in her room. at 11, i moved her from rebekah's bed to her own, and went to my bed. but then i couldn't sleep! so sometime around midnight i finally went to sleep. and today we were up bright and early. the kids have no idea what it means to sleep in.
think i should have gone back to bed?????

surgery

rachel had her surgery on monday the 17th, and it was quite the rough day for us. first, we woke up at 5 to get the hospital by 530. rachel was taken away around 7 to start the fun of ivs and knock out drugs. also at 7, the dealership opened, and in case you hadn't heard, our car wouldn't start and needed to be towed there!! so right after she got taken away, nathan left to go meet the tow truck and unlock the car and get out important stuff in it. meanwhile, rachel came out of surgery and was mad as a hornet!! she is a very strong girl, and no amount of mommy love, rocking, holding or singing was making her one bit happy. she would semi fall asleep, but only for a minute, and was mad again. it took quite a while to calm her down, but once we did, she slept for a good long while. thank goodness! waking up from that sleeping drug is not fun for her, apparently!! poor girl! then we were transferred upstairs to her room. nathan started complaining that he wasn't feeling well, getting a headache and more and more nauseated. i am sorry to say that i wasn't as sympathetic as i could have been. both of us get headaches a lot, so i figured, take your meds, get a nap, and you'll be fine. not so much. it was a rough afternoon for both of us, i was at the hospital with rachel, and he was home with the kiddos, feeling sicker and sicker. neither of us realized he was actually getting the flu, until both he and rebekah were sick in the night!! what a way to spend the night! i had a rough night with rachel, barely getting much sleep between her and the nurses that checked on her. then, the next morning, i started feeling sicker and sicker. the playroom was having a music class and offered to have one of their volunteers take her. i rested for the whole 45 min! it was heaven!!
by that evening, i was miserable, and nathan and rebekah were better, thank goodness. their bug only lasted about a day, while mine lingered on, and even turned into vertigo!! rachel came home tues night, and has been fighting us on taking her meds, even though they make such a difference on how she feels! i will never understand it. well, thursday i was still sick so nathan and his dad picked up our car from the shop, where they insist nothing was wrong with it!! i don't understand that either. but i guess you be grateful it wasn't something major, right?
but it was my mandatory rehearsal for the choir concert the next night, and i couldn't make it. i couldn't stand up, let alone stand and sing. so my sister tat, who is in it with me, asked them to make an exception for me. i was given a blessing, and able to feel well enough to practice and perform on friday. it was one of the hardest weeks of my life!! but an awesome concert! thank goodness we are feeling better around here. it was rough!
oh, and on a lighter note, yesterday at school, my gorgeous rebekah CUT HER HAIR!!!! i guess she was trying to go for some bangs or something, but she looks funny!! i will post pics as soon as camera charges!

days gone by

rachel finally learned how to put a pot on her head. it is very cute, and difficult for her to fit her head inside!! :)

this is their music class, which is a 3 year lesson plan, at the end of which, they should be able to compose their own music, and play at an intermediate level. i was so proud of caleb for participating, and they all did so great!!

rachel in the doctor's office, who finally decided that she was in fact sick enough to have her tonsils and adnoids out (which will be done tomorrow morning, wish us luck!!) she actually had to have an x-ray done of her sinuses which showed how her chronic sinus infections had done damage, and showed up in her x-rays. poor thing.

Learnings in frustration

Yet another wonderful post by Nate allowing us all to meander down the dismal path that has become my education/career.
For those who need a recap...
I spent the greater part of the 2000's in that wonderful prison I like to call school. I love learning, I just deplore school, but I digress.... anyway... Here is why I attended school.
I have been running a trucking business that keeps our family alive. I hate the trucking business. Dont get me wrong, its nice to set your hours, be your own boss, blah blah blah.... here is the other side. When you own your own business you are last to get paid, and in trucking that always means underpaid. Trucks run 24/7 which means you are never ever not at work. 1 am calls telling you a truck has broke down are always a special treat.
Continuing, trucking doesnt attract the most intelligent of folks either, and my contracts are with the post office, which seems to be some modern day ambrosia for morons, dingbats, screwups, suckups, and every other detestable scum that never learned to use their brain so they went to the ole government to secure their future at wages they dont deserve for labor they dont provide. I grew tired of this daily rigmarole and wanted to have a better life for me an my family. So, in 2001 decided to try and get my business degree.
In 2007 I finally achieved my goal. I graduated with a degree in business management from the University of Phoenix (the only school I could attend with my schedule), severely in debt from student loans but believing I had finally secured my future......WRONG!!!!!!
Turns out a business degree is worthless without some sort of specialization. How do I know this you might say? Years of interviews with company big wigs who were kind enough, and at the same time complete a@#holes, told me my degree was worthless without more education. What to do, what to do?
Computers my mind said, you love networking (from a brief spell with an IT company that my bro in law was kind enough to arrange...long story), why not get some certifications in something you enjoy, get entry level work somewhere, and earn your way up with your degree and certifications together. Sounds awesome on paper, eh? NOPE!!
I spent another 8 months, and a considerable amount of cash, getting Network+ and CCNA certified. Here is the gist of a conversation I had today with Adecco, a temp placement firm known internationally. This person will now be referred to as dingbat, or db for short.
Me: Im looking to try and find job placement. I have a business degree and a few computer certifications that I have recently earned.
DB: Do you have any experience with either?
Me: Yes I have a trucking company which I have operated since I was 18, and I have a little experience with Novell, a major computer company.
DB: Well, since you dont have any experience we cant help you. Recent certifications are really worthless. Companies want employees with experience, so come back when you get some.
Me: Do you not see the catch 22 here? You want experience, and certifications, but are unwilling to let anyone with certifications try to gain experience. How are you supposed to get "years" of experience.....?
Dingbat didnt have an answer, he just shuffled me off with some remark about leaving my resume with their hr team.
So, a summary is in order I think.
Bachelors degree cost $30,000...yup UOP is a financial blackhole from which there is no return
2 computer Certifications cost $5000
Total value to the rest of the world $0
Having to still drive a mind numbing truck for the rest of your life....priceless

I really hate this world and am going to grab a Dr Pepper and a lawn chair and watch the fireworks with elations of ecstasy and tears of joy in my eyes when it finally goes down in flames.
Have a nice day